Impact of racialization on neuroimaging and plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION

Given the predominance of imaging and plasma biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease observational studies and clinical trials, it is critical to understand the differences between these biomarkers across racialized groups.

METHODS

A total of 260 older adults without dementia racialized as Black and/or African American (AA) and non-Hispanic white (NHW), ranging in age from 50 to 90 years (68.8 ± 9.1 years), were evaluated for differences in plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) 42/Aβ40, p-tau181, p-tau217, p-tau231, neurofilament light chain (NfL), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as well as Aβ positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-derived cortical thickness using Mann-Whitney U tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

RESULTS

Both Mann-Whitney tests and ANCOVA found significant differences between groups racialized as AA or NWH with respect to global [C]-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR), cortical thickness values, p-tau181, and p-tau231 values (p < 0.05).

DISCUSSION

Racialization should be given more consideration in AD clinical research, particularly when biomarker results are used for inclusion or exclusion criteria for clinical trials and qualification in clinical practice.

HIGHLIGHTS

Global [C]-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR), cortical thickness, p-tau181, and p-tau231 differed between groups Differences were unaffected by age, sex, apolipoprotein E 4 (APOE4), education, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score Racialization needs more consideration in Alzheimer's disease clinical research Additional work is needed to understand the sources of biomarker differences.